Unit Test on Short Stories

1
Unit Test on Short Stories

• Review

2
Literary Terms

• Plot-a series of events
• Exposition-part of the plot where the characters
  and main conflict are introduced
• Rising action-chain of events which occur as the
  main character struggles to achieve his or her
  goal
• Climax-the point of highest emotional intensity
• Falling action-events which occur after the
  climax
• Resolution-events where any remaining issues are
  resolved

3
Literary Terms-continued

• Conflict-a struggle between two opposing forces
• External conflict-a struggle with an outside
  force (man vs. man, man vs. nature
• Internal conflict-a struggle within the
  characters heart or mind
• Flashback-a scene that presents events that
  happened before the main time frame of a story
• Foreshadowing-clues which hint at what is going
  to happen later on in a story

4
Literary Terms-continued

• Setting-the time and place in which the action of
  a story takes place
• Mood-the atmosphere of a story which affects the
  way we feel as we read
• Tone-the authors attitude toward his or her
  subject
• Protagonist-the main character, often the one you
  root for in a story
• Antagonist-conflicts with the protagonist,
  attempting to prevent the protagonist from
  attaining goals

5
Literary Terms-continued

• Round character-has many different character
  traits like a real person
• Flat character-has only one or two traits
• Static character-does not change in the course of
  a story
• Dynamic character-grows and changes during a
  story
• Motivation-the reason a character behaves a
  certain way
• Direct characterization-writers tell the reader
  directly what characters are like

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Literary Terms-continued

• Indirect characterization-the author leads you to
  make inferences about characters based on their
  words, actions, thoughts, and how other
  characters respond to them
• Inference-an educated guess based on experience
  and observation
• Narrator-the storyteller
• Omniscient narrator-all-knowing, is able to tell
  the reader what every character thinks or feels,
  not a character in the story

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Literary Terms-continued

• First-person narrator-a character in the story,
  uses pronouns like I and me, may be biased
• Third-person limited narrator-focuses on the
  thoughts and feelings of just one character, not
  a character in the story, uses third person
  pronouns like he or she
• Voice-a writers unique use of language and style
• Theme-an insight about life expressed in a
  literary work, a central idea of a work of
  literature, usually not directly stated

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Literary Terms-continued

• Symbol-an object, event, person, or animal that
  stands for both itself and also for something
  else. Symbols can be invented or inherited.
• Allegory-a story in which the characters,
  setting, and action stand for something beyond
  themselves. An allegory can be read on two
  different levels-a literal level and a symbolic
  level.
• Irony-the difference between what we expect and
  what actually happens
• Verbal irony-when someone says one thing but
  means the opposite
• Situational irony-when an event is completely
  unexpected, the opposite of what you thought
  would happen
• Dramatic irony-when the audience or reader knows
  something that the characters dont know

9
The Sniper

• Dublin, 1920s
• Irish Civil War
• Two snipers on rooftops
• Dark serious mood
• At the end, the sniper finds out he has killed
  his own brother

10
Liberty

• The title has a double meaning.
• Dominican Republic
• Family needs to leave the country to come to the
  US because of the political situation
• First person narrator
• Narrator has internal conflict over leaving the
  dog behind
• One of the themes of the story is that liberty
  requires sacrifices

11
Harrison Bergeron

• Futuristic setting
• A society which enforces extraordinary control
  over its citizens
• Harrison rebels and is killed
• Theme-it is impossible to make everyone the same

12
A Sound of Thunder

• Science fiction
• A hunter travels back in time to shoot a dinosaur
• Because he doesnt heed warnings, he alters the
  future and is killed
• Theme-individual actions have consequences
• Title has a dual meaning
• Conflict-man vs. man, man vs. nature

13
Old Man at the Bridge

• An old man is evacuating during the Spanish Civil
  War. He is worried about the animals he had to
  leave behind.
• A soldier talks to him, but the soldiers job is
  to move on.
• Makes the point of how war affects ordinary
  people-civilians

14
Thank You, Mam

• A boy named Roger tries to steal an older womans
  purse. She grabs him, takes him home with her,
  feeds him, and gives him money.
• The story is about forgiveness and second
  chances.
• Irony in the title
• Setting-city, late at night, small apartment
• Characterization is important

15
A Christmas Memory

• First person narrator-a seven-year-old boy
• About his relationship with an elderly cousin and
  how they make fruitcakes every year
• In the South during the Depression
• Style is very descriptive
• Characterization is important
• Kites are a symbol

16
In the Family

• First person, unreliable narrator
• Supernatural-deceased family members are living
  in the mirror!

17
The Interlopers

• Omniscient narrator
• Two neighboring landowners who have carried on a
  feud begun generations ago
• They are trapped together in a forest
• They agree to end the feud-but they will probably
  be eaten by wolves
• Ironic ending
• Conflicts-man vs. man, man vs. nature
• Serious, objective tone

18
Initiation

• Third person limited narrator
• Millicent, the main character, thinks she wants
  to join a high school sorority
• She goes through initiation, but decides not to
  join
• She wants to be an individual and remain friends
  with Tracy
• Heather birds symbolize freedom and individuality

19
The Wifes Story

• A twist on the traditional werewolf story
• First person point of view
• Voice
• The use of a first person narrator creates
  suspense

20
The Scarlet Ibis

• The scarlet ibis is a symbol for Doodle
• First person narrator
• Very descriptive style-lots of similes
• Theme-attempts to change others can cause pain.
  People make selfish choices they know will hurt
  others.
• Voice shifts during the story

21
The Gift of the Magi

• Situational irony
• Paradox
• Third person narrator who is not a character in
  the story, but who plays a role by making
  comments directly to the reader
• Della has an internal conflict over whether or
  not to cut her hair

22
The Golden Kite, The Silver Wind

• The story is an allegory.
• The story is about a competition between
  neighboring Chinese towns over who can build a
  better wall.
• The story is an allegory of the Cold War and the
  arms race between the United States and the
  Soviet Union.
• The author, Ray Bradbury, was trying to warn
  about the dangers of technology.